Take a look inside Leica's factory in Wetzlar, Germany

Inside Leica's factory in Wetzlar

Leica is one of the oldest names in photography, and has long been one of the most prestigious. Since the 1920s, Leica's high-quality miniature cameras have set a standard for mechanical precision arguably unmatched by any other manufacturer, and for decades, many of the world's best photojournalists used Leica rangefinders to document the defining events of the 20th Century.

Almost 100 years after the introduction of the original Leica (a name formed by combining Leitz, the name of the parent company, with 'Camera') Leica Camera AG is still going strong, and still based in its original hometown of Wetzlar, Germany.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Wetzlar to see for myself how Leica's lenses are put together. Flip through the images above for a tour of the facility.

The losses are only in the sports optics area - the article describes that this involves optics for binoculars and sighting telescopes; camera lenses are not mentioned. But it doesn't look good for the Zeiss site locations in Germany at the moment. Nevertheless keep in mind that Zeiss has Cosina in Japan manufacturing many of their lenses.

I love the description of the final tuning steps of the manual focus mechanism for image 23: "The final result of this laborious process is a manual focusing experience which feels smooth, luxurious, and exactly like someone spent a long time getting it just right." Some people love to knock Leica for its high prices but there is just something about a hand-made precision mechanical device, especially a tactile tool like a manual focus lens.

I have never had the experience of focusing a Leica lens but I have always enjoyed using my old manual focus Nikkors. Today's autofocus lenses separate the photographer from an essential step in the making of a photo. If autofocus disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't miss it one bit. . .

If that were true, it would be labelled as such, EU rules are very strict on this......and it's highly likely a well respected company such as Leica with such a good reputation would comply with these rules!

Actually there's not a lot going on in Wetzlar as regards manufacturing. We spent a day there in May and there were a few folks puttering around but no big sets of lenses being made. Boxes and work trays come in from Portugal, and it seems that they are tested a little and reboxed in Wetzlar boxes. Not impressed.

That's a bit of a shame. Considering the photo gallery shows them doing the lens grinding process and assembling an entry level lens like 35 Summarit in Wetzlar, I thought it's probably safe to assume they also assemble most of the lenses there.

Thank you for this unique look (different from the usual approach) at the wonderful Leica factory. I have used many cameras over the years and yet always value my M series above all else. You can FEEL the attention to design, engineering, and especially craftsmanship in each body and even more so in each beautiful lens. It also helps that there are over 100 years of development behind today’s M equipment.

No matter the Leica contribution in photography which I highly appreciate, their main achievement in nowadays is that they can persuade enough consumers that their hugely overpriced products can deliver noticeable results in any terms compared to those offered by competition at a fraction of the cost. And judging by the result we have to accept they manage to do it exceptionally well by investing in a unique mixture of sentiment and craftsmanship mainly aiming to an audience worshiping vanity and distinction.

I totally agree and well put.....but ohhhh, the way the controls feel and move! Then again, .rollex vs casio......tesla vs volt.......Lamborghini vs corvette....leica vs ricoh......it is a great time to be alive!

If your life was relying in accuracy of time it would be safer to rely on a Casio than a Rolex, commuter cars in nowadays are a commodity so the "character" involved in them is the same of a fridge, dream cars are toys for boys (and girls), old Ricohs were in some cases more innovative than Leicas in the beginning of digital photography, but I can see your point in terms of fetishism. It's Leica's approach: we don't sell cameras, we offer you a passion item.And they know how to do it...

"Erlkönig" is the usual German term for prototype cars, mocked up as normal serial cars. A couple of photographers are specialised in finding them somewhere in Finland, Sahara or other quiet places, shoot them and post cars rumours.

Wonder why no photographer is specials in camera erlkönigs... :D Since these days most cars are boring like the desert they're tested in.

I was fortunate to visit the factory and do the Leica introductory course .I had the opportunity there to use a just arrived from Japan prototype of a new camera and then to hold in my hands the original Oscar Barnack built Leica (Ur).Best week in my photographic retail time.

I am using film Ms, they are great but none of them is "perfect". They all have their little flaws like any other camera. The M6 is probably the closest to perfection if there wasn't the rangefinder flare issue.

"If Leica thought it was not adding any benefit, they would not be doing it."

In fact they're not doing it at all. They learned their lesson very well in Canada: decrease (massively) the quality, increase (exponentially) the price. One could argue nobody would buy such a product... In fact nobody would.No, wait...

To Hoff. I agree. However, as I see it, we are left with a chicken/egg conundrum. Are the small quantities an undesirable or desirable result of their business model? If small quantities is the goal, the company probably will remain small.

To MyReality. Leica could very well believe that their business model is the best one for their company. However, larger corporations than Leica make billion dollar miscalculations every day. Large and small businesses alike are not immune to mistake. I am not championing automation here. I am responding to the implied claims in the article.

To Tical. When I was shopping for used Leica lenses to adapt to my Canon, I avoided Canadian manufactured lenses b/c I was warned away from them. In doing this, I have no idea how good or bad the lenses were. One bad experience doesn't go hand in hand with a general condemnation of automation. It just means it has to be done right next time. And, don't go to Canada.

I suspect that they do not have the capital to modernize. But, as long as there are fussy and picky folks (like MyReality describes them), Leica will get by. But they will only grow their brand as the fussy and picky population grows and that will be a very slow process. Some of these picky folks will end up with medium format (and not the expensive MF Leica puts out).

My first sentence in my post above was with regards to the factory in Germany. Naturally, people that want the best are going to buy equipment made in that factory. I do not know if equipment made in Canada is actually inferior. Toyota and Honda make cars in the US, there is no indication that they are inferior to made in Japan.Leica is a niche company like Ferrari, Rolls Royce, etc., they seem to do just fine in their small segment.The number of picky and fussy people keeps growing as the number of millionaires keeps increasing.

I have a few Canada lenses. They're great so thanks for not buying them and keeping the price reasonable. Don't forget that Walter Mandler (the famed lens designer) oversaw production there and they produced many of his favourite designs.

Zdman. Prices for used Leica lenses made in Germany or Canada, as with new Leica lenses produced today, are nowhere near reasonable for what they offer compared to the rest of the market thanks to Leica's fanboys.

Reasonable is a relative word but I picked mine up at the beginning of the decade when only collectors bought them and Canada was a no no. Bought a nice 180mm telyt which you still even now can't buy a comparable lens for anything close to the price I paid (less than $400).

Very beautiful factory. Perhaps I should get a Leica. I'm sure the Germans craft better photographic equipment like how their cars are superior to anything made in Japan. Maybe Apple would be better manufacturing the iPhone in Germany as well?

My wife's German built VW Golf mark 6 from 2010 - required 4 fuel injectors after just 2 years (2200 Euros), a replacement ECG valve after 5 years (950 Euros) and it had the engine that gave fake emissions data. My Japanese built Toyota Yaris from 1999 - still going! Only costs 70 Euros for an annual service. Never once failed its annual inspection.

Funny then how Lexus (Toyota/Japanese) is consistently ranked as the most reliable car brand in the world. All else being equal, my experiences lead me to think that Japanese engineering is generally superior to German engineering. German equipment tends to be finicky and require oodles of high cost maintenance.

My Leica M9 has been back to Wezlar 3 times, for a period of about 20 weeks in total. The first problem wasn't even fixed and the final was the sensor replacement. I have to admire them for fixing that as many wouldn't, but when you think of how not offering replacements would ruin the crucial part ex market it made sense. For 25 years my Nikon cameras have been fault free, the recent Fujis seem also very well made, though Leica lenses are still the best.In contrast my then new 2003 Audi A4 was an expensive nightmare during its 4th year and my Czech built Skoda Yeti totally faultless for nearly 8. Actually, a plastic seat nob fell off the Skoda and inside it had an Audi logo! Control nobs all broke off our Neff cooker, the freezer door on our AEG fell off.... In my experience German reliability is a myth. If you look at car reliability high end German brands are not better, some are below average.People will continue to believe brand hype, I now take all that with a pinch of salt.

@photophile,My first car was a VW Käfer (Beetle) and i could afford it as a student and things which were broken i could repair it by myself (not much went broken).Second car was a Mercedes Benz, bought it with about 120.000 Miles for about 3000 USD, drove it 60.000 Miles with not much repair.MY Golf TDI is now 15 years old and comes to an age where things wear off, but i can repair most of the parts by myself. Although i like all sorts of cars, also the japanese, i still would take a german car because, in my experience, they a durable with a good quality and a low cost of ownership. I think I´ve saved much money compared to other brands. Beside of that, nowadays all cars have a lot of electronics and therefore a lot of breakdowns and expansive repairs.

Except your personal experience doesn't invalidate the wide sample used for the reliability index. I'm sure there are Hondas that break down every week and BMW's that do 300,000 miles without a hitch but its the same as the odd 100 year old who smokes 3 packs a day and is still healthy, doesn't mean smoking is good for you. Personally I drove VW for a good 15 years and thought they were great (I honestly thought taking it in once a year to have something looked at was normal). Then I drove two Hondas for 15 years and only ever took them in for a normal service. Now I'm back driving an Audi which has been to the garage 6 times in two years. It was then that I started looking these things up. Next car is Japanese although I must admit the German cars are more refined its more important that they're reliable.

I thought the link up with Panasonic was very clever. Panasonic has plenty of electronics technology, but little "optical heritage", Leica has the opposite. It is very hard to get an optical heritage quickly, so merge into one.

I agree, it turned into a great partnership with real benefits on both sides. I hear rumors of some rocky patches, but they both stuck with it, and brought many elements of Leica quality into the realm of more photographers, can only be good.

But I do worry that with advances in technology and rising costs associated with keeping things small scale, will they be able to keep finding innovative solutions such as washing vs clean room, or will they become more and more reliant on some variant of a patronage system.

Nice article. As an old grumpy photographer coming from the film era I know Leica very well and I visited them several times.But truth is that Leica almost missed out on the transition from analog to digital and was very close to going belly up in 2005, despite their wonderful lenses. Germans can sometimes be a bit stubborn or even arrogant. Leica was very lucky that companies like Fuji and later Panasonic helped them out by exchanging their knowledge of digital sensors and processing for lens knowledge/manufacturing. Otherwise I am not sure they would even still exist today ...

As not so old (but also anough grumpy) I think Leica is a strange beast. I tried film just recently after digital. First I was shocked how far behined digital it is in terms of megapixels etc. But more I used to it the more it become more and more fun. I become interested less and less in new Nikon D850 or whatever. I also don't interested in modern leica lenses because resolution race is stopped with film. See no point in Leica golden editions... But as a plain old-school tool I like Leica camera more and more. It's new, robust and not giving me a headache. No past history from WWII age. No denosaur leaved a scratch mark on it. When I hold digital camera I feel like an IT guy (whom I am) in case of film it's really different. But maybe it is how an age feels.:)

Those who assume that professional photographers always do careful and rigorous cost-benefit analyses are however wrong. Sure, you buy the camera that will do the job -- but you also buy the camera you like using, not least because you know it will get you better pictures because you'll be happier using it. You may also decide to buy a better camera than you strictly need, for those occasions when you may need better quality than most of the stuff you shoot.

Excellent article. One a great appreciation for the pricision and soul of great gear. Unlike the colder view of a computer automated assemply line - where I suspect some of the relatively expensive (for m43 system) Pana-Leica lenses like the 8-18mm lens are built that seem to have noticable variation in more than a few lenses.

Image #5 is a Fed 5 and it is very unlikely it left the factory with a fake mocked-up Industar lens masquerading as an Elmar. It is strange that a fake is based on an original Fed design and not the ubiquitous Zorki 1 and 2, or Fed 1, which fakers love to use to turn into any number of "rare" Leicas, because they were originally unashamedly copies of a Leica II.

Not sure where you came across this information, but it doesn't stack up. Ask youself, why would Leitz licence their camera to a nascent camera industry with no prior experience in constructing precision cameras? FED produce copies, not licenced products. You really should read this instead:

I don’t think anyone can deny the top-notch build quality of Leica lenses and cameras. Given the amount of manual labor involved, $2.5k for an entry-level lens seems justified based on their business model. The problem people (myself included) have with Leica and Leica pricing actually has very little to do with Leica at all; it instead revolves around the sad fact that there is no competition at all in the manual digital rangefinder market, and Leica’s monopoly allow them to set prices accordingly.

I have a feeling Epson would receive massive financial backing if they launched a kickstarter for the R-D2.

Yes, but the price is also determined by the demand - and it seems that Leica digital rangefinder cameras (and lenses) sell well especially in Asia and Near East where likely customers are more willing to spend this money (including collectors). Lower supply also keeps the price tag high. Leica's reasoning for the price tag is all about high precision and manual labor - but I really wonder if this is still such biggie: Cosina makes in a much more automated fashion Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses which also have a high quality standard. But the Voigtlander lens (CV) price tag is sometimes 1/4th of the price of the equivalent Leica M-lens. Yes, lenses from different brands are never the same, but from experience I can tell that the CV lenses are excellent performers. For regular shooters and non collectors, they are very competitive IMO.

And yes, a kickstarter for something equivalent like the R-D2 could catch a lot of interest.

@ Copal Fit: You're right about the CV lenses - they're quite good. I can say I'm very pleased with the results I get from the Voigtlander M mount lenses coupled with the Voigtlander Bessa R4. Granted 135 film really can't compete with modern full-frame 24MP sensors in terms of resolving power, but I imagine a Voigtlander 50mm F1.1 Nokton could hold it's own on a digital rangefinder.

@ Josh Leavitt: Don't want to mix up this Leica-based thread with CV-based technology, but since both are M-mount based, just this additional comment: I am using my CV lenses also on 36 MP FF format sensor, and they perform excellent. Issues might be seen in the ultrawide angle range and corner sharpness/fringing, but this has nothing to do with the lens itself, but is related to the sensor cover glass thickness of my Sony mirrorless camera.

@Copal Fit I think you touched on a good point. Voigtlander, Zeiss and Leica all seem to produce very fine lenses. You will pick up a lens from the before mentioned brands and rarely say the lens renders a flat, boring image. I don't really subscribe to optically perfect lenses as being the best lenses. This is what makes those three brands really stick out to me.

I think it would be wonderful for someone to produce a digital rangefinder like the M10. The Fuji X Pro2 is close. I believe most people have adopted the DSLR look as the more modern look thus offering the best features. 🙄

While I don't mind the DSLR ergonomics and look, I really like the rangefinder look but often get asked how old is my brand new rangefinder. 🤣 If Leica sticks a big EVF in the M11, they will sell more to a specific crowd.

@FF Pro: The problem with the notorious use of the word "rangefinder style" (in context with the X-Pro 2 and such cameras) is that it entirely negates the fact that they are not at all rangefinder cameras. The hybrid viewfinder, as Fuji likes to call it, blends an optical and an electronic viewfinder. But there is no rangefinder mechanism anywhere to be found.

Thus, as far as rangefinder cameras are concerned, there are no (digital) alternatives to Leica. After Voigtländer and Zeiss stopped making Bessa and Ikon cameras, respectively, there aren't many film alternatives either.

I know. I have several film rangefinders. I just think that is the closest you can get to a Leica M10 in today's digital market. Not saying it is perfect but it is the closest. I would love to see a company come out with a M mount digital rangefinder. If Yashica can sell that new camera of theirs, surely anyone could sell a real digital rangefinder.

Have been there in Wetzlar in June on my trip to Germany. It's impressive, beautiful architecture and layout. Didn't go on a guided tour, just checked out the museum and factory part by myself (you can't go inside the factory by yourself, but they have several windows at different process stages to look inside the assembly units). I am shooting with Leica, but only with Leica M film cameras. Neither Leica's latest (overpriced) vintage lenses nor all the "superior" ASPH lenses excite me much. I keep my excellent older Summicron lenses with f/2 instead.....all good.

There is no shame in not using new cameras and lenses by Leica. The vintage gear still performs admirably. I've had my 60 year old M2 recently serviced and enjoy using a "slow" 35/3.5 Summaron.I also have the (metered) Bessa R2m and faster VC 35/2.5, but it's a modern camera in comparison.

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